Fashion great Yves Saint Laurent, whose name has been synonymous with the height of Paris haute couture for decades, is expected to announce his retirement today.

Fashion great Yves Saint Laurent, whose name has been synonymous with the height of Paris haute couture for decades, is expected to announce his retirement today.

Saint Laurent, 65, has called a news conference for today and reports say he will announce there the end of his 44-year career as a fashion designer.

French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche said yesterday Saint Laurent has been at odds with French businessman Francois Pinault, who controls the rights to Saint Laurent's brand name.

Saint Laurent, almost invariably seen wearing outsize black glasses, rose to prominence in the fashion world in January 1958. Then aged 21, he drew immediate acclaim with a line for the House of Dior - prompting newspapers to say he was a worthy successor of French fashion king Christian Dior, who had died three months earlier.

Saint Laurent, born in Oran, Algeria in 1936, put his mark on many aspects of the fashion world: offering a dazzling use of colour, skirts cut variously both above and below the knee, and inventions such as the feminine tuxedo.

Today, the Yves Saint Laurent name adorns ready-to-wear and haute couture clothing, as well as perfume and beauty products.